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FIRS goes tough, plans to deduct tax direct from defaulters bank account
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), on Thursday said it had given tax defaulters a 30-day window to regularise their tax status.
It added that failure would lead to forfeiture of the tax equivalent directly from their bank accounts to the Federal Government.
The FIRS Executive Chairman, Tunde Fowler dropped the hint on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) programme – Platform.
He said that banks had been instructed to “sweep the accounts of tax defaulters into the Federation Account after 30 days.
According to Fowler, the FIRS had written 23,000 letters to high-profile tax defaulters, whose names appeared on the list of defaulters.
The accounts of the identified defaulters have been put on lien.
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Some of the letters, he said, had not been delivered because the addresses of the defaulters might have changed, adding that “the FIRS is determined because the Service is backed by law to sweep the equivalent of what such tax defaulters owe into the federation account.”
The FIRS boss also noted that since the bank lien on tax defaulters’ accounts was initiated 60 days ago, the service had granted an additional 30 days – making it 90 days – for the defaulters to regularise their tax status.
“At the end of the 90 days”, Fowler warned, “banks will be asked to sweep the tax owed into the Federation Account.”
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